Archive for February, 2011

I’ve had this project on my list since July 2009 when Jessica Jones posted about these little mushroom pincushions on her blog How About Orange. It is projects like this (and my procrastination thereof) that inspired me to create this blog. One benefit of waiting a year and a half to make some is that we’ve been saving bottlecaps and have collected a good handful of them. I should be able to crank out a bunch of these this week!

Yesterday I had the opportunity to accompany a potter friend to a raku firing at a local arts center. A few artists came out with their pieces for the kiln so we got to see a variety of glazes and techniques. Now I really want to try my hand at pottery!

Whew, this was a week. I wasn’t quite sure about it at the beginning, but by the end (like about 10 minutes ago) I ended up having some fun. Making little dolls may get added to the list of Crafts I Can Do While Watching TV. Previously that category was filled with yarn.

Lessons learned:
– With a little scrap fabric and some fiberfill you can make anything. It wasn’t until I was sewing up the bird that I really felt this way, but I’m looking forward to trying more designs.
– Paint fixes a multitude of sins. Or: Don’t leave wet paint lying about with a mischievous 5 year old in the room. Many thanks to Elina for fixing the Mermaiden’s face.
– Hand sewing dolls makes me feel old timey and grandma-like. I don’t know what it is, but this week I felt the most resourceful and creative so far (even though I was following plans).

I’m sure there are professional doll makers out there who wouldn’t be too impressed with my efforts this week. There are also probably a whole range of fancier dolls I could have tried. For me, though, this was a stretch of my sewing and imagination abilities and I’m happy I did it. I’ll never look at store-bought toys the same way again.

Next week: another stay-at-home sewing project before bigger things start happening. I can’t wait to show you some of the things I’ve been learning!

The bird doll is done! The original pattern called for wire feet so the bird can stand on its own, but I’m going to leave those off. If I’m going to hand this bird to a kid to play with I don’t want poky bits threatening to get them. The pin legs you see are just for this photo.